How Can You Mess up Pancake Batter?
by Nyirria
Summary: A normal morning breakfast with the three Arkwright children and Austin. Insomnia, waffles, fluff, scrambled eggs, coffee, strawberries, and a slipper being thrown across the table. Yeah, it's all the usual.


**A/N** : Something that came up in the middle of nowhere, while I was listening on Pandora and my mom was asking me why I wasn't doing the homework that I probably should've done already. Heh.

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><p>Joel yawned, stretching out his limbs while he was uniquely sprawled across the love seat, head resting where an arm was supposed to be, his legs draped over the opposite armrest. He'd woken up far too early for a lazy Sunday, and he glanced over at the little owl clock on the TV stand, where it read: <strong>7:23 am<strong>. He yawned once more, and set his glasses on the coffee table next to him, and he twisted himself so he was on his side, facing the back-rest, folding his legs and pulling them to his chest.

There would be no harm in trying to get just a little more sleep, at least, until Austin, Desirée, or Corbin woke up. Corbin would get started on the coffee and set the table, Des would prepare the necessary ingredients for breakfast, and Joel would cook for the four of them. It was how it went everyday, plus or minus Austin if he stayed the night, which he was doing far more often these last few weeks.

As Joel was beginning to fall back into the welcome unconscious state that is sleep, the sound of doors opening and closing entered his ears and he groaned. He slowly sat up, grabbed for his second pair of eyes, and looked at the owl again. **8:12 am**. Apparently his insomnia was still pretty obvious, but thankfully for the clingy human that slept next to him, the easier it was to fall asleep. Rather than waiting for three-to-four hours at night in bed until he was absolutely sleep-deprived, Joel had a warm presence that is Austin, that helps him sleep in under two hours.

He slumped back against the armrest, rubbing the sand out of his eyes with his fingers while he heard footsteps come from the hall, getting closer and closer. Desirée was the first to appear out of the hallway, and she smiled as she saw Joel, giggling at how his hair was sticking out in all directions.

"Good morning, J. Don't you normally wake up with perfect hair? Hm." Des hummed as she turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen, opening cabinets and the fridge for breakfast. "What do you want today?" she asked while her eyes scanned the contents of the refrigerator. "Pancakes? Waffles?"

Joel tried to pat down his hair, and carefully slid off the love seat, wary that getting up to quick would make him black out for a few seconds that seemed like minutes or hours. And he knew that could happen. He's done that before, shooting out from under his sheets and the next thing he knew, he was a pretzel lying on the floor as Des was freaking out about him.

"I think you're talking about yourself, Des!" Joel called in reply, making for the kitchen as well. "Anyway, I should be asking you and the other two what you guys want for breakfast." He took the heavy bag of flour from her hands. "I'm just the cook here, taking orders."

The two siblings prepared for a simple breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, waffles, halved strawberries, and the choice of beverage between coffee, milk, or orange juice. Joel yawned as he plugged in the waffle maker and poured in the batter for the first batch of four, as each of them could scarf down two waffles. He closed the machine and turned his head as two pairs of footsteps came down the hallway.

"I knew I smelled food cooking."

Corbin walked towards his younger brother and sister, and examined two packages of coffee ground from the cupboard. "House Blend or French Roast?"

"French Roast," Austin and Desirée answered in sync, earning a chuckle from Corbin.

"Alright, French coffee it is."

Joel cracked two eggs on the already hot and buttered frying pan, followed by another two and grabbed the spatula to start the scrambling. He rubbed his nose unconsciously, and couldn't help the smile that appeared on his lips as arms wrapped around his torso, a face nuzzling itself against his neck in such an intimate way. "Good morning, sleep well?

"Mm-hm," Austin hummed into Joel's ear and the redhead suppressed a ticklish giggle. "I woke up without a certain body pillow in the bed with me though.

Joel snorted. "The body heat you were giving out was overwhelming, and I doubted you'd like to wake up to a sweat-covered 'body pillow.'" He felt the vibrations of Austin's silent but quaking laugh, and he let out a chuckle of his own

"No matter," Austin said, unwrapping his arms from Joel, going to the cupboards to help set up the table with the other Arkwright children. "I get to wake up with the delightful fumes of waffles.

Joel rolled his eyes behind his glasses and transferred the finished scrambled eggs onto a plate, turning off the stove, and returning to the waffle maker for quick collection and to begin the second batch. "I'm getting the feeling you sleep over just to wake up to my cooking."

Desirée looked up from slicing strawberries into halves, dropping the fruit into a small bowl. "Shouldn't that be considered a compliment? I mean, your cooking skills _are_ better than any of ours." Joel looked at her as he closed the lid. "I can't even start the stove without messing up the batter."

Corbin raised his eyebrows as he poured steaming hot coffee into mugs. "You're _that_ bad?" he asked, seemingly scandalized. "What, does the batter just get set on fire by the heat vision formed by your anger and frustration?"

Joel and Austin met in eye contact at that with grins on their faces, while Desirée just glared daggers into Corbin's head. "NO! _No_! What the heck are _you_ talking about?!" Des had a look of offended disbelief, with a hand dramatically placed over her heart.

"Well you said you mess up with just the pancake batter, I can understand ending up with charcoal pancakes, but with screwed _batter_? What do you even _do_?" Corbin gestured with his hands, almost spilling a little of the coffee on the dining table.

Desirée walked over to the table, setting down the bowl of strawberries before smacking the side Corbin's head lightly. "By 'messing up the batter', I mean putting in the wrong measurements, you doofus!"

Joel snickered, finished with the waffles, stacking them atop the other four finished batter grids, and brought them to the table with the eggs as Austin picked up the butter dish, syrup boat, and sugar pot in his skilled arms. He could've been a waiter if he wanted to.

Setting aside Desirée's really, _really_ bad chef skills, they began to eat their long-awaited for breakfast, their rumbling tummies finally relieved to be receiving food. They ate with a comforting silence, the clinking of silverware on porcelain the only sounds bouncing off the walls, until Corbin decided to bring up the laughter-inducing topic once more.

"So, what happens if you try to make a salad? Boil water, or attempt to stir up a glass of Nesquik chocolate milk?"

Desirée threw her slipper at Corbin accompanied with a string of non-profanity curses, and Corbin yelped, ducking at the last second as the slipper nearly hit his face. Austin nearly choked on his hot coffee, resulting in a harsh coughing fit, and Joel looked over at the owl clock with a small smile. **9:17 am**.

They had all morning to speak about Desirée's terrible cooking. And Joel should really see to Austin, what with his watering, squinted eyes from combining uncontrollable laughter and coughing.

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><p><strong>AN** : I should really be doing my homework now.


End file.
